SAFETY of the ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY and AMISULPRIDE COMBINATION Rozália Takács1, Zsolt Iványi2, Gabor S
Psychiatria Danubina, 2013; Vol. 25, No. 1, pp 76-79 Brief report © Medicinska naklada - Zagreb, Croatia SAFETY OF THE ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY AND AMISULPRIDE COMBINATION Rozália Takács1, Zsolt Iványi2, Gabor S. Ungvari3, 4 & Gábor Gazdag1,5 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary 2 Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary 3University of Notre Dame, Australia 4Marian Centre, Perth, Australia 5Consultation–Liaison Psychiatric Service, Szent István and Szent László Hospitals, Budapest, Hungary received: 21.10.2011; revised: 16.1.2012; accepted: 2.12.2012 SUMMARY Background: Electroconvulsive therapy is frequently considered when pharmacotherapy is ineffective. In such cases the combination of the two treatment modalities are commonly used. Amisulpiride, a second generation antipsychotic drug is used in the treatment of schizophrenia and psychotic depression. When amisulpiride is ineffective as a monotherapy, combination with ECT could be an option to enhance its efficacy. To the best of our knowledge, to date there have been no data about the safety of this combination. Subjects and methods: Medical notes of all patients who were given ECT while on amisulpiride were selected from the archives of the Department of Psychiatry, Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest, covering a 10-year period. A randomly selected matched control group was formed from patients who underwent ECT but were not taking amisulpiride. Patients in both groups also received a variety of psychotropic drugs other than amisulpide. Side effects were compared between the two groups of patients. Results: Twenty patients received amisulpride with ECT. The most common side effects were headache, hypertension, tachycardia, nausea, dizziness, confusion, psychomotor agitation, sialorrhea, and prolonged seizure activity.
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